In 1998 I was 10 years old and Kerry Wood was just coming onto the major league scene. At this time I was just starting to get really into baseball and you couldn't go a few minutes without hearing about Kerry Wood.
He was a phenom in high school, throwing the ball hard and fast but also having a good breaking pitch. He was accurate, passionate, probably the best thing you could of wanted.
In the 1995 draft the Chicago Clubs used their fourth overall pick to select Wood.
Three years later he would make his first MLB appearance. Four games after that he threw, what many consider, one of the most dominant pitching performances in the history of baseball. On May 6, 1998 he threw for nine innings against the Houston Astros, allowing one hit and no walks while tying a major league record with 20 strikeouts.
I remember after hearing this the "experts" talking about how dominating he will be, the Cubs will win the world series, so on and so forth.
The thing I remember was that he not only threw it fast but it threw it hard. For people who don't really follow baseball or played baseball that may not seem different to you. Though I know there were several times when I played a pitcher would throw the ball fast but it never seem to come in that hard and others would throw it not as fast but it was a hard thrown ball. It's a term that many players use now-a-days but it's still hard to explain to a non-advid baseball fan.
Anyway, it seemed like the sky was the limit. Until he missed the last month of the season with elbow soreness.
Which then in turn led to him getting Tommy John surgery the following year.
In 2000 he struggled and missed a few starts.
2001 he was back in full form striking out a ton of batters, throwing the ball well and not getting hurt. He would continue this all the way through 2003 where he had a bunch of career highs, strikeouts, wins and ERA.
He was selected for the All-Star game and helped lead the Cubs to the playoffs, I mean, he even hit a home run in the playoffs. The first since 1984. Though the Cubs lost to the Marlins who would go on to win the World Series.
From 2004 and on it would seem Wood was never really the same as injuries plagued him. He continued to get injured as many hard throwing pitchers do.
His career slowly became a "what he could of been" type of player.
Though looking back, there are a ton of players that are like that and don't amount to half the things Wood did.
I mean, Wood does have three MLB records; fastest to reach 1000 strikeouts in MLB history in 134 games; fastest to reach 1000 strikeouts in MLB history in 853 IP; Tied the most strikeouts in a 9-inning game with 20.
After everything he decided to call it quits in the middle of the season and retire. Today the Cubs put him in against the cross-town rivals the Chicago White Sox when Wood would throw against one batter, striking him out.
It seems like a some what fitting end to his career. I don't think he will be remembered the way he should be, a pitcher with a short dominant career. Instead, most will remember him for being injured or over hyped or something else.
I think he will become one of the players that when I get older and talk to friends I will say, you remember him? While my kids will have no idea about him since he didn't do anything s to really stand out and separate himself from just being another baseball player.
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